As the director of the Center for Engaged Religious Pluralism at Saint Mary's, Barbara A. McGraw specializes in church/state issues, religious pluralism and can address concerns revolving around religious freedom in the nation.

Saint Mary’s Social Ethics, Law, and Public Life Professor, McGraw is recognized nationally as an author and commentator on American identity and the role of religious pluralism in public life. She has been included in briefings at the White House complex on faith-based initiatives, recently met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's Special Advisor on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Shaun Casey about inter-religious understanding and foreign service and participated in an invitation-only meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations on religion issues.

For more than a decade, she has provided training to state and federal correctional system professionals to better serve their religiously diverse constituents and been an advocate for religiously inclusive policies, including for K-12 textbooks.

McGraw is co-author of a popular world religions text, "Many Peoples, Many Faiths: Women and Men in the World Religions;" author of "Rediscovering America’s Sacred Ground: Public Religion and Pursuit of the Good in a Pluralistic America" and co-editor and contributor to "Taking Religious Pluralism Seriously." She is also a recipient of the 2014 Mahatma Gandhi Award for the Advancement of Religious Pluralism from the Hindu American Foundation (HAF).

She can be reached at (925) 377-0333 or at [email protected]. For assistance in reaching the professor after hours, or with another news topic, please contact Director of Media Relations Mike McAlpin at 925-631-4222 (office), 925-878-9535 (cell) or by email at [email protected].